Tuitions see rising trend across nation

College students throughout the country -- and their parents -- have dealt with concerns about the rising cost of college tuition for a while, and this year was no exception. Penn's tuition increase was comparable to most of its peers, rising about 5 percent for the 2002-2003 academic year. That brought the total to $27,988, up from $26,630 last year. This figure does not include extra costs such as housing or meal plans. But Penn's rate of tuition increase is slightly down from last year's 5.8 percent rise. And according to Tony Pals, public information director of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, these rates of tuition increase are actually low in comparison to those that colleges experienced during the last economic recession. "Ten years ago, private colleges saw increases in the double digits," Pals said. "Now they are trying harder to keep costs down while maintaining the quality of their programs, and as a result, tuition increases during this economic recession are half of what we saw in the last." Penn's peer institutions have raised costs by similar amounts over the last few years. Harvard University's tuition reached $27,448, also up about 5 percent from the 2001-2002 academic year. Cornell, Brown and Columbia universities and Dartmouth College also experienced increases of roughly 5 percent. Only Yale University saw a slightly lower increase of about 4 percent. Although the "sticker prices" of private universities are increasing, few students pay this full price. Nationally, about 84 percent of students attending private colleges get some form of financial aid, according to Pals. And the rising cost of tuition has actually increased the amount of aid available. "With the rising tuition costs, colleges are offering bigger financial aid packages in order to ensure a diverse class," Pals said. Doris Davis, associate provost for admissions and enrollment at Cornell, agreed that students applying for financial aid have not been hurt by tuition increases this year. "Since the cost of attending Cornell is one of the main components in calculating a financial aid package, aid awards are adjusted to reflect any increase in tuition," Davis wrote in an e-mail. Although most universities are experiencing increases, the most dramatic jumps in tuition costs have been at public universities this year. A College Board study conducted this fall showed that tuitions at public schools have risen more than 9 percent on average, while most private colleges and universities have had average increases just under 6 percent, marking some of the largest increases in decades. Some of the most significant tuition rises were at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, up almost 18 percent, Pennsylvania State University at University Park, up 13.5 percent and the College of Charleston, up over 20 percent, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.